


Lasting Peace

by Aurum_Auri



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alpha Victor Nikiforov, Alternate Universe, Bonding, M/M, Omega Katsuki Yuuri, Omegaverse, Riding, Smut, no shared language, omegas and alphas are at war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:53:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurum_Auri/pseuds/Aurum_Auri
Summary: Yuuri had never met an alpha before he and his people were ripped from their home. Narrowly escaping with his life, he found himself in a country where he didn't speak the language, running for his life, right on the cusp of his heat. And then he met Victor, and nothing would ever be the same again.





	Lasting Peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FuriousSnow](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=FuriousSnow).



> Written for FuriousSnow! I hope it's everything you wanted!

The meeting room was full of betas in full diplomatic attire. Their muted scents left Victor uneasy. At home, in Alphadero, it was simple to tell what his people were thinking and feeling. Their scents reflected it, souring with negative emotions, sweetening with positive, and it made negotiations far simpler. Betas lacked the complex scent glands, and it made discussions uncomfortable.

Well, it was either the lack of scent, or it was the collar and muzzle Victor was wearing. He scratched his face, trying to ignore the uncomfortable rub of leather on his skin. His model lacked the metal bit between his teeth, but the cage around his jaw was annoying enough.

“Tell me how this is my fault,” Victor said, forcing a pleasant smile. “If your people find no evidence of the missing omegas indicating our involvement, then we aren’t taking them.”

“You have to understand our concerns,” Celestino Cialdini said. “As Head Director of Secondary Relations and Policies, it’s my job to take these cases very seriously. And the… history of conflict between Alphadero and Omeha presents a very compelling case.”

“Slander,” Chris said smoothly. One of the top beta ambassadors to Alphadero, he was here to serve as a bit of lubricant in this issue, speeding the gears up. “We have a truce between our three nations. We have no cause to break it now.”

“Perhaps not you,” Celestino said. “But you can’t mean to tell me that none of your people could have done this. A deeper investigation is all I ask for. Until such time as we have solved the case, the omegas refuse to spend their heats here. They don’t feel safe.”

“As if anyone could feel safe here,” Yuri hissed. His words were strangely clipped through the metal bit in his mouth and the cage around his jaws. His collar was thicker than Victor’s, the mark of a young alpha with limited control over his pheromones.

He barely tolerated the required garments, but had no choice in the matter. Neither he nor Victor did. The penalty for an alpha on the streets without a muzzle or collar in Bedarine was a month of prison time and expulsion from the country for no fewer than six months on a first offense. On a second offense, the period was measured in years. A third offense was a flat ban. And a fourth? Death.

“Our primary goal is to facilitate proper relations between our nations,” Celestino said firmly. “And unless you can prove to Omeha that your people are not behind this, I’m afraid their next answer will not be as simple as refusing to aid you in your ruts. We are facing war, Mr.  Nikiforov, and Alpha Lord though you may be, even you cannot win a war alone.”

“If it isn’t the omegas screaming for war, it’s the alphas doing the screaming. We’ve been at this for generations; but you are right. I would like to avoid war if at all possible,” Victor said. “Neither of us has the resources to sustain a prolonged conflict, and the last war was long and bloody. I’ll at least look into the matter, even I have doubts about what will turn up.”

“Thank you,” Celestino said. “That’s all I ask of your people. I can offer a few betas to help with the investigation. They’re good at their jobs, so they’ll be an asset to you.”

“You’re too generous,” Victor said. He dipped his head respectfully. “I’ll return home tomorrow to see what I can find. Hopefully nothing comes of this.”

“Hopefully these omegas are found. _Unharmed_ ,” Celestino added firmly. “Before this population crisis gets any worse. We need omegas and alphas sharing heats and ruts again, and the endless bickering between your nations is harming us all.”

“Maybe if your damned city didn’t have so many rules-” Yuri started to stay, before Victor steered him out the door.

“Thank you,” Victor said. “We’ll get back to you as soon as we can with the results of our investigation.” He pushed Yuri out the door before the young alpha could say anything else. “Your tone is entirely unfitting for a diplomatic mission and your choice of vocabulary is rough at best,” Victor chided, switching tongues from the Bedarine language to the native tongue of Alphadero. “Your grandfather would be disappointed in you.”

Yuri glared at him, his green eyes sharp with frustration. “I’m bored, this sucks, and the scent nullifiers smell terrible. I thought coming here would mean doing _something_ , not letting those betas tell us what to do-”

Victor wore a wide, plastic smile. “What you call ‘telling us what to do’ I call playing a longer game. If Alphadero cuts ties to Bedarine, it loses all ties to Omeha as well. If we lose ties to both countries, you can kiss any chance in your lifetime of rutting with an omega goodbye.”

“You don’t seriously think any alphas are kidnapping omegas for illicit hunts, do you?” Yuri said. He bared his little fang teeth, chomping at the bit in his mouth. “We’d string them up by their testicles.”

“We have no way of knowing unless we look into it. I admit, I’m curious as well. I’ve heard whispers of missing alphas, too, but I’m not interested in pointing fingers until there’s some form of proof.”

“You should have said so! Some alpha you are,” Yuri hissed. Victor paralyzed Yuri with a cold smile and a wave of pheromones that barely eked past the thick collar Victor wore. Yuri couldn’t move, and the color washed from his face.

“This is the power of the Alpha Lord,” Victor said in a clipped tone. “Remember that.”

* * *

The stench of unwashed bodies was sickening. They were crowded into a train car like a herd of cattle, a cluster of sickly omegas from a village near the border of Omeha. Yuuri had been here four nights. But tonight, he would escape.

The guards had a routine, and they were not as smart as they thought they were. Even if Yuuri didn’t understand their tongue, they moved predictably. Yuuri had watched them carefully since the moment he’d been handcuffed and dragged into the train car. Now was as good a time as any.

He could hear sobbing omegas in the corners, frightened things that trembled at the thought of what awaited them at the end of their journey. Maybe Yuuri was frightened as well. What omega didn’t fear the legendary nightmare hunts of the Alphadero people?

The hunts were banned centuries ago. Yuuri had no illusions that they’d ever stopped. But even if Yuuri was a dime-a-dozen omega facing a fight for his life, he knew something that most omegas had forgotten: omegas were not a weak race, not born to be bred like cattle under the alphas. They were warriors first and mothers second. Yuuri wasn’t going to let an alpha exploit his heat, nor anyone else's.

Escape was a dangerous thing. Mealtimes of meager scraps were his only chance to free his hands, which made it the most attractive moment to escape. It just took careful timing, watching the alphas for a sign of distraction.

No one paid attention to him. He was painfully average, barely carried a scent, and unremarkable in every way. Fading into the crowd of re-cuffed omegas was easy. They were chained together and marched back to their traincar. That was when Yuuri took his chance, rolling under the belly of the monstrous car and over the tracks.

Yuuri told himself he was getting help. He tried to silence the voice that called him _coward._

He ran. For days and nights, he ran, growing more and more frantic with each dawn and sunset. All the while, the moon pulled at his very being, marking the passage of time. His heat was so close. And once it started, every alpha within twenty miles would smell his desperation, the need to mate. He needed to be back in Omeha before that happened.

Alphadero was further north than Omeha, a frigid, rocky area with large spans of inhospitable, arid earth. Finding food was a struggle. Finding shelter was even harder.

And still the moon rose, night after night, threatening Yuuri with each rising sun. He found a cave near a train station. Yuuri was senseless with hunger, deranged with the heat that was so close he could taste it.

He didn’t want to stop, so close to danger that anyone could find him. But his body gave out beneath him, the days of endless running taking their toll. He was wracked with violent pre-heat shivers. The urge to nest was suffocating, but the mental screaming for safety was even more overwhelming than that.

Hide, he had to hide. It was a biological imperative more difficult to ignore than the one that kept him breathing. He stumbled into the cave, finding it pleasingly twisty, a small cavern tucked within out of sight of the mouth.

He moved like a raving creature, pushing around sand inside until it made a soft bed. He ducked out for seconds, gathering soft looking fronds from nearby bushes. Some of these, he propped against the entrance to the cave, some he used to line his ramshackle nest.

His heart wouldn’t stop hammering. This heat would be rough. Even more so, considering he’d have to keep his voice down and try to keep from scenting everything in the cave. His body was trembling violently as he settled down, bedding in the shabby nest. This would be very rough indeed. He just hoped he’d survive.

* * *

They were two days into their return trip to the capital of Alphadero when they stopped their travels for the day.

Victor stretched and escorted the group of betas off the train. “We’ll be reconnecting with another train in an hour, so feel free to stretch your legs and get some air before we board.”

“Thank you, Mr. Nikiforov,” one of the betas said. Another was scribbling a missive home and attaching it to the leg of a carrier hawk. “Reporting back already, Phichit? We haven’t even found anything yet,” the beta laughed.

“Hey, this was a very important message that needed to go back right away, Leo” Phichit fired back.

“Phichit single-handedly keeps the carrier hawk industry afloat,” Leo whispered to Victor. Phichit shoved him with a good natured grin. The betas were a friendly bunch, not the surly investigators Victor had expected to be given. He laughed with them.

Time would tell if anything would be found, of course, but Victor had very high hopes that-

He froze in place.

“Is something wrong, Victor?” Leo asked. Victor shook his head. Impossible. He had smelled omegas before, even ones very, very close to their heats, but to smell something out here, of all places? He pushed past the betas.

This was impossible.

The sugary sweet smell of an omega filled the air, intoxicating and colored with hints of citrus and faintly floral notes. It made the blood boil in his veins, made his mind go hazy with desire. The wild hunger of his ruts simmered somewhere in the back of his mind, and it was a great struggle to hold it back.

And yet, somehow Yuri was unbothered by the scent, if he’d smelled it at all. “Yuri,” he called. The boy’s collar and muzzle had been abandoned at the border. He came out of the shade of the station, reeking of youthful desires. “Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” Yuri said.

Victor pursed his lips. “Stay here with the betas. I’ll be back in a moment.” Yuri protested, but Victor waved him off. He jogged down the hill, the land sloping downward from the tracks to a rocky set of hills, pockmarked with fissures and caves.

He closed his eyes. The smell was getting stronger. An omega was within his borders, and as long as it was here, it wouldn’t be safe. Not with its heat so close. He stuck his head into each cave until he found one _reeking_ of the sweetest omega he’d ever smelled. He was almost dazed as he followed it around the corner.

There, curled in the darkness, trembling in a nest, was a dark haired male omega, red eyes open and blown wide with fear.

The omega said something in Omehan, his language fluid and pretty, but the words unidentifiable. It didn’t take a stretch of the imagination to hear the threat. The omega brandished a sharp looking rock and pressed his spine against the wall.

Victor tried Bedarian, “Are you alright? Do you need help?”

The omega didn’t seem to understand that either. Wasn’t that just perfect. Their languages were too dissimilar to even try to figure out what they were saying, and Victor had never learned Omehan.

The omega lost his footing and went down, rising back to his feet with a low hiss. He looked dazed. He looked shaken, actually, trembling with his heat. His scent, though, his scent was different than Victor had expected. Something about it…

Victor let out a small dose of calming pheromones. The omega stiffened and hissed. He looked feral, wracked by fear and alarm. His clothing was ripped and dusty. He lashed out with a sharp rock, gashing open Victor’s cheek. The omega leapt back, frightened, unsure when Victor didn’t retaliate.

Victor sat by the bend of the cave, between view of the mouth and where the omega could still see him. “Relax,” he said. He kept his tone neutral and calm, letting out more of the calming pheromones. “It’s okay, you’ll be safe.”

He heard a little whimper from the back. The omega wasn’t unaffected by the scent, then. Victor could see the way his posture changed. Omegas weren’t meant to have heats alone, any more than alphas could spend their ruts alone. It was a cruel reality of fate, that things were like this.

It took hours. The omega was reluctant to relax, afraid of the big bad alpha lurking close by. But as time passed, as Victor refused to move closer or further away, the calming pheromones and Victor’s soothing words floating over them, the omega visibly relaxed into his nest. He was only a few hours perhaps from breaking into a full fledged heat. It wasn’t safe here for him.

When the omega was at last lulled to sleep, it was far, far too late. Victor had found the one thing he thought had been a myth: a living, breathing Omega Lord. One of Victor’s own kind. Victor had felt a measure of overprotectiveness before, but now he was certain. And he couldn’t afford to let some knotheaded alpha of his nation ruin this omega.

Lords were rare, a quirk of birth. He had assumed he would never meet one, since the rate of lords being born was so incredibly rare, even between alphas and omegas, there were never two in the same generation. There hadn’t been for hundreds of years.

Victor stepped closer, stunned to silence. His breath came shakily. What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful man.

He would kill anyone who tried to harm this omega.

It came over him so quickly, but he was certain of it. No one else in the world deserved something so exquisite. And this omega… of all creatures in the world, of all people… This nameless omega, with a fan of dark lashes over his cheeks, with a halo of dark hair around his dirt-smudged face, was an Omega Lord, and his power would mean the world would never be the same.

No one else would understand. No other alpha would understand his needs or potential. A brute would take and take, never knowing the true treasure they were holding.

Only Victor could give his omega what he needed.

Spellbound, he knelt at the omega’s side. Removing an omega from a nest was never a _good_ idea, but the risks of leaving someone to the elements far outweighed the risks of shock. Victor braced himself against the wall and lifted, hefting the beautiful omega in his arms. He had to take him back to the betas.

At the very least, having an omega in Alphadero was a very, very bad sign.

“Victor!” Yurio shouted when Victor came into sight of the train. “Where the fuck were you, we’ve been looking everywhere for-” he broke off, eyes going round as saucers. His lips ripped back into a snarl.

“Down!” Victor bellowed, sending out a powerful wave of pheromones. Yurio cried out as his knees buckled beneath him. The betas looked on in shock. One of them finally noticed the man in Victor’s arms, and gasped.

“This is-”

“He’s in rough shape and his heat will start any minute. He needs fluids, food, and rest. I- I don’t trust myself-” Victor panted. The sweet scent curled so enticingly along his senses. _Claim bite mate make him yours_ his mind was screaming with desire and he didn’t have the strength to resist any longer. “Please-”

He fell to his knees, and the betas surged around him, taking the omega up to the waiting train. He shakily caught his breath as the omega was whisked onboard. There were emergency rut rooms on the trains. Sealing the omega inside one of them would have to be safe enough for the time being.

One of the betas stayed by Victor’s side, watching the rest go. “So that’s where you were,” Leo said. “He doesn’t smell claimed or mated.”

“Small miracle,” Victor gasped. He let his pheromones up and Yurio popped off the ground, coughing and swearing.

“You motherfucker,” Yuri started swearing in Alphaderan. “We’ve been holding the train for hours and you were shacking up with an omega, where did you even fucking find an omega here-”

“Quiet, Yuri,” Victor said. He took his feet. His legs trembled. “If there’s one omega, there’s more. Which means the missing omegas very well might be in this country after all.”

Yuri sobered up. “Impossible. Why would they- but we- we have the agreement with the omegas. Why would alphas abduct-”

Victor shook his head. “They’re desperate. Things are hard right now, Yuri. We need to talk to the omega when he’s out of his heat. We have to find out what is going on.”

“That might be a bit of a problem,” Phichit said. He hung his head out the window. “This omega is suffering from separation sickness. He won’t go into heat unless we can get some alpha pheromones going in here. And if he doesn’t go into heat, he’ll be stuck like this.”

Victor closed his eyes. The gods were taunting him. Testing his self-control. Yuri couldn’t do it. He was barely out of presentation and still struggling to control his impulses. The others in their traveling party were betas, with a private train being commissioned for their very important diplomatic journey to find out why omegas wouldn’t come to Bedarine for their heats any longer.

He could sit near the room, but it would be a difficult test of his will. He nodded. “I’ll be right up.”

The train was not a particularly extravagant thing. Centuries of war and tenuous peacetimes meant expenditures were hampered in some places, and a train was one area where luxury was not something they could afford to waste resources on.

The grim reality meant it was only a very short walk to the back of the train, where the emergency rut car was kept. It locked both ways, in and out, and for the moment, the betas were clustered around the outside of the door, watching nervously for Victor to arrive.

“You trust me with this?” Victor asked.

“We have no choice,” Phichit said. “He… he’s been begging…” The other betas looked sheepish beside him. A feral pounding came from the door, making them all flinch. Victor could hear the ghostly wails from beyond, desperate and colored with lustful hunger. “We can open the door a bit to let your scent in, but we’re not sure what to do. He’s nearly incoherent right now.”

The language was fluttering and fast, almost pretty if it wasn’t brutalized with desperation. “What is he saying? Victor asked.

“He’s… he’s asking for you, I think,” one of the other betas said. “He said, ah… roughly, ‘Need him’ I think. And… pleading. He… wants you inside. It’s just the heat talking but… it’s very hard to listen to,” the beta said, holding his temples and shaking his head.

“I can’t go in there!” Victor said. “He doesn’t want an alpha. He wouldn’t let me get close for hours. He’s scared, and he’s overwhelmed. I refuse to go in, I won’t take advantage of him like that. So we need to figure out what to do.”

“Well we don’t know what to do,” Phichit snapped. “Frankly, none of us were prepared for this. Stay on this side of the door, we can figure this out.” He turned to the door, speaking rapidly in that same language as the omega.

The omega’s cries were halting and strangled, muffled by the door. The scent managed to leak around the copious scent blockers installed around the doors, and Victor stiffened as he stood there, trying to remain calm in the face of his desires.

The omega was calling for him. Even with the fear, the drive of the omega’s lust was overpowering. Victor grimaced. “Tie me down,” he said.

Phichit blinked. “What do you mean?” Victor grabbed a muzzle off the shelf and strapped it to his face. He clipped a collar to his throat, deadly serious as he faced the door.

“I’m going in there. Tie me down so that I can’t do anything to him if I lose control. Spending too long on the edges of his heat isn’t healthy. We have young alphas die from their ruts. I can’t lose our first lead, so I’m going in there. At the very least, I can scent the room. If the omega wants more than that, he’s welcome to it.”

“We do have emergency contraceptives,” the other beta said. He looked at Phichit. “We can administer them to the omega. A heat will end faster if an alpha is present.”

Phichit nodded. “It’s our only option. Victor, do you have anything to tie you down with?” Victor nodded to one of the attendants manning the train, who returned shortly with a length of coarse rope. Victor offered his wrists, which were quickly bound in front of him, a length stretching off to be tied off. A lead was clipped to the collar.

“I’ll hold my breath as long as I can. Tie me to the headboard before I can smell the omega’s scent,” Victor ordered. Phichit nodded. They counted from 3 before opening the door. Victor took a deep breath.

He held it as they rushed inside. The omega, bright-eyed and pale, was writhing on the bed in obvious pain. They moved quickly. There was no time to waste. The omega sat up, a low growl in the back of his throat as they swept over the threshold of the room.

Victor’s lungs ached. They didn’t have long. He could feel the pressure against his body, but as long as he didn’t breathe it in, he could have at least a small measure of control. He was clipped down first, the collar attached to the headboard and limiting his range of movement. His wrists were bound above his head.

He pulled on them, then gave Phichit the ‘all clear’ with his fingers. Phichit stepped back. “Don’t you dare hurt him,” Phichit warned with narrow eyes. Victor nodded solemnly. He took a breath, and the world seemed to haze over.

His vision blurred as the intensity of the omega’s scent rushed over him. Victor wrenched at the ropes, all sense slipping away like water through a sieve. The scent, so sweet, a taste of heaven unlike anything Victor had ever encountered before-

The omega clawed at Victor’s clothes with a feral growl, pawing at the buckles and ties and belts until Victor’s cock was exposed and hard. He watched Victor with some measure of trepidation. Sense warred with instinct.

Then the omega’s eyes clouded over, and his fingers reached between his thighs, pleasuring himself with his hands. The pheromones had taken him over. Victor’s scent seemed to soothe something, because the omega started to hum, his cries turning less pained and more sweet.

The omega nosed closer, laying blankets of his scent over Victor, seemingly satisfied when Victor couldn’t resist or claim him. Victor whined through the muzzle. The omega’s heat was not so easily satiated, but Victor released his scent through the room, and soon the omega was purring in pleasure.

He gasped as the omega rolled over him, still touching himself, fumbling with one hand at the ties holding Victor’s pants closed. He yanked and pulled, whining low in his throat as he worked them down enough for Victor’s cock to pop free, already stiff from the omega’s touches.

The omega let out a pleased purr, satisfied with what he saw as he took it in his free hand. His head fell back as he pleasured himself, alternating between touching his cute omega cock and slipping his fingers inside himself, scissoring himself open.

He sucked in a sharp breath as he lifted his hips. Then the omega sank down, riding Victor’s cock frantically. Instinct begged Victor to take and take, but every pull on the ropes dragged him back to reality with the sharp twist of friction and pain.

He was just a toy for this omega, something to use until the heat abated, and Victor had never been so turned on in his life. He could almost taste the desperation in the air.

The omega’s teeth sank into the leather of the collar and held there, clinging, ignoring the way Victor twisted in his bonds. He wanted to claim and be claimed. Victor strained furiously. His muzzled jaws ached to sink in to the soft skin of the omega’s throat, the tender flesh just covering the sweetly scented gland.

It was wild, manic, and Victor was unable to do a thing to help or hurt the omega. And all the while, the omega rubbed himself against against Victor, against his thighs and his wrists and neck, trying to blanket himself in the scent of Alpha Lord.

Wild, messy, sloppy, the omega took Victor’s knot and purred the entire time he was fucked full of cum. When it wilted, he turned over, showing off the gorgeous lines of his back as he rode Victor’s cock, the swell of his ass and the way his cheeks split around Victor’s length.

Hours passed before the omega started to slow. His hunger was not something so quickly satiated. Victor had been with an omega once or twice, but never with one during a heat. The feeling of a perpetually unsatisfied omega was something stunning.

And when it was finished, the omega at last pulled off of Victor, curling up beside him with a contented purr. It was another few minutes of silence before the door peeked open. Phichit stood in the doorway. He crept inside.

He looked Victor up and down, naked and filthy on the bed with torn clothes, a soft cock, and freshly wilted knot. “Is it safe to untie you?” Phichit murmured.

Victor considered it for a moment. His heart was still racing, trembling from the recent exertions and pleasure. He nodded at last. “I’m calm,” he murmured. The omega smelled contented, smelled like _Victor_. Victor wouldn’t do anything rash, he was certain.

Phichit accepted the answer, and he undid the bonds. Victor paused, and he started to shape the pillows roughly around the omega’s sleeping body. He looked small when Victor pulled away, and Victor couldn’t help the pang of guilt he felt. He had ripped the omega from its nest, and though the omega had survived, it could be harmful even now.

They crept out of the room. “Is it safe to leave the omega alone now? There won’t be any issues?”

“We should be okay. He’ll need food and drink, but mostly he needs rest. The room smells like me enough, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

Phichit nodded. “Thank you. Most alphas I know wouldn’t have let themselves be tied down like that. But you may have just saved that omega’s life.”

“It was the least I could do,” Victor said. He couldn’t bring himself to reveal the omega’s secret, at least, not yet. “Please let me know if the omega wakes up. We’ll need his story so we can find the rest of the missing omegas. And I would like to speak with him as well.”

* * *

Yuuri was alive. It was his first thought when he awoke. He was alive, and most importantly, unmated. He clapped a hand over his scent gland, shocked to feel the skin unbitten and unmarred.

The second thing he noticed was that he was laying in a bed. Not just any bed, but a nice one, dressed in silks and furs, heavy with plush pillows arranged around him in a rough approximation of a nest.

Some of the materials were things he couldn’t even identify, soft but sturdy and nicer than anything Yuuri had ever had growing up. There was a dull ache inside of him. Someone had fucked him, or he had fucked them. His screaming muscles seemed more inclined toward the latter, his legs weary and tired.

Yuuri turned over in the nest. Would danger lie beyond the door? He smelled an alpha scent, more powerful than any he had ever smelled before. It left him uneasy, but he was unmated, he was out of his heat, and he’d be a fool to ignore a blessing like this. It was more than he deserved.

He remembered the omegas, miserable, freezing, and starving in the train’s cars. He didn’t belong here in the warmth and comfort he had somehow found. He had to know what was going on.

That was when he noticed the third thing. The room had been rocking long before Yuuri had woken up. The sound of the rails was muffled and quieter than it had been on the first train car, but the sound immediately sent chills through Yuuri all the same. He was back on a train.

He bolted to his feet. A pair of clothes were folded at the foot of the bed. He himself was stripped nude, but the clothes seemed made to fit him, or at least an approximation of his size. They were a bit short and a bit loose on him, but it at least clothed him.

The door was unlocked, revealing a narrow, open corridor. He crept down it, cautious. The gap between the cars made Yuuri nervous, but it was easy enough to step between them, even with the slight limp. This next car smelled of food. Yuuri peered cautiously within.

It was a small kitchen area with a white-haired alpha, muzzled and collared, standing inside. The alpha grinned and cocked his head, offering Yuuri a smile. He said something in another language, but Yuuri couldn’t tell what it was he said. The scent. It was the same as the one in his room. Yuuri was frozen dead in place.

The alpha was cooking something while he spoke, still speaking.

Yuuri narrowed his eyes. “Who are you? Where am I?” he asked. “Why didn’t you mate me?” The alpha frowned. He must not be able to understand Yuuri. Yuuri sighed. He hesitated before pointing to himself. “Yuuri. My name is Yuuri. _Yuuri_.” He pointed at Victor, who picked up on it eventually.

“Victor!” the man said. He jabbered quickly in his foreign language, with the name Victor buried inside it again somewhere.

Yuuri nodded. At least he had a name. He peered warily around the little kitchen. It was metallic and white, larger than Yuuri had expected. Victor placed the food on the trays and gestured for Yuuri to join him in the next car. Yuuri followed a few steps behind.

They ended up in a train car that resembled a sitting room. Yuuri froze. There were betas in here, who leapt to their feet as he walked in.

One of them bounded forward, pushing past Victor. “You’re awake! Thank the gods, we were all so worried about you.” The beta spoke Omehan with a touch of an accent, but it was more than serviceable.

“What’s going on? Who is that? Where am I? Why am I not…?” He touched his neck.

“You can thank Victor, he found you in the wastes. I’m Phichit, and this is Leo and Guang Hong. You must be confused, join us for some breakfast, we can explain.”

Yuuri smiled gratefully, but still watched Victor warily. “I’m Yuuri. Nice to meet you. Um, is it… okay to have an alpha here?” Yuuri said. The collar and muzzle was… off-putting to say the least.

“Victor is leaving his muzzle on in deference to you. If you would like this collar to protect your neck, you’re more than welcome to put it on,” Leo said, offering a length of fine black leather.

Yuuri buckled it on. Collars were mandatory accessories outside of Omeha for safety purposes. With a collar, it was harder to be forcefully bonded without consent. He could breathe easier with one on, that was for sure.

The alpha spoke. His language was softer than Yuuri expected, and when Phichit replied in kind, he realized they must have been speaking Bedaran. “Victor wanted to inform you that there is an alpha driving the train, a single, muzzled alpha attendant on board, and a newly presented alpha who is also wearing a muzzle. They’ve all been told not to touch you.”

“Oh,” Yuuri said, surprised. “Um, thank you. Could you tell him that I appreciate his concern?” Phichit beamed and passed the message on. He sat beside Phichit, picking at the food that was laid out. Most of it was too rich for his stomach, but he kept to a few more mild things and a glass of water.

Phichit jabbered away happily in Bedarin with the others, laughing and talking. Yuuri took a chance to study the others. Leo, Guang Hong, and Phichit wore similar robes of an official capacity. He could see the badges pinned to their chest, marking them with a sign of their service toward the Bedarine government.

Meanwhile Victor was sitting slightly off to the side, smiling a little at the fun. Yuuri watched him warily.

He’d never seen alphas before they had come bursting across the borders. He thought they’d all be the same: reeking horribly with a powerful stench of desire and madness and dominance. They had been haggard and dressed in rags. They were monsters from Yuuri’s worst nightmare.

But Victor… he was… different. Clean, docile. His scent was softly diffused through the room, restrained and considerate. It wasn’t like the monsters that had raided Yuuri’s village. He had… helped Yuuri. “I’ve never seen an alpha like Victor before,” Yuuri murmured to Phichit. “In Alphadero… are there more like him?”

Phichit laughed. “I’ve never met anyone like Victor, I’ll tell you that.” He must have seen the worry on Yuuri’s face. “I mean, not that the others are bad! But Victor is pretty special. You’ll like him when you get to know him, I’m sure. He cares a lot about his duty, and it shows.”

“So where exactly are we?” Yuuri asked. Beyond the windows, the landscape was rugged and barren.

“We’re in Alphadero still, making for the capital city. We were investigating a string of omega disappearances when Victor found _you_. We were hoping that you’d be able to help us find the others.”

“The others,” Yuuri whispered. “They’re on a train. They’re cold and hungry. Alphas came in the night. They took all the unbonded omegas, old enough to be presented. Some who hadn’t presented yet. Um. They… they were keeping us and barely feeding us scraps. I escaped to get home and get help.”

The other betas had stopped talking, watching Yuuri with rapt expressions. One of them, Guang Hong, quickly translated it to Victor, who looked horrified.

The harsh sound from Victor’s mouth was unmistakably an expletive. He immediately started kneading his temple, then stood and paced, speaking again in the harsher language. Most of it was muttering to himself. He grabbed a map and spread it on the table.

He said something to Yuuri, tapping the map. Phichit said, “He says he found you here. Do you remember which way you were running?”

Yuuri studied the map for a moment. Many railroad lines converged under Victor’s finger. Yuuri had followed one to get where he had ended up. The question was, which one?

He leaned in close, following each with his eyes. His path had taken him near the foothills of a mountain, which eliminated all but three of the lines. There had been a bridge, too, which had crossed the river very early on.

“I walked for three days and nights,” Yuuri said. “I’m not sure how far I traveled.”

Phichit and Victor talked for a moment before Victor measured a span from their meeting place and drew a circle around it. “Victor says you could have potentially made it almost a hundred miles in that time, depending on how fast you were going and how long you spent walking versus resting. You escaped somewhere in this circle.”

Yuuri nodded and studied the three lines. Only one crossed the river within the circle. He tapped it, looking up at Victor. “They were here when I escaped.”

Victor sucked in a breath, his hand clenching slightly. Phichit didn’t seem to notice. He was celebrating. Yuuri looked up at Victor, cocking his head. Questioning.

Victor’s lip twitched downward, but quickly became a mask. His scent was sour for only a second before it sweetened again, becoming the beautiful fragrance it had been first. The language barrier was infuriating. Victor was calm again the second Phichit turned to him, and Yuuri had no way to ask.

He squinted at Victor. They were going to have a talk… somehow, eventually, Yuuri would find a way.

The betas finished their meal after a while. Yuuri hesitated in the room when he saw Victor hadn’t moved to leave with them. He moved to the chair opposite Victor.

Victor looked surprised. “Um… Phichit?” he said. Asking if Yuuri wanted a translator? Yuuri shook his head. Okay. He could pantomime this somehow.

He reached for the map and tapped the original spot. He pointed at Victor and mimed an angry face, then a questioning expression.

Victor grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper. He drew a very rough approximation of a skull and crossbones. _Danger._

How to ask why he didn’t tell Phichit? Yuuri frowned. Another question, then. He tapped the skull and pointed to himself, and then to Victor and where the betas had been sitting.

_Just dangerous for omegas, or everyone?_

Victor made a circle with his finger, looking grim. _Everyone_. Wonderful. Yuuri frowned. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to ask Victor, but didn’t want to ask Phichit or the others.

He sighed. Victor was smiling at him.

Yuuri could only feel guilt. He had left all those omegas behind and ran away like a coward. His mother would be ashamed of him. He flopped back in the chair, picking at a thread on the clothing he wore. It fit him uncomfortably.

The door suddenly slammed open. Yuuri jolted, looking up to see a young, blond alpha in the doorway, yelling, “Victor!” A thick black collar was settled on his throat, barely holding back the wild, almost nauseating waves of pheromones. He started to speak quickly in the harsh Alphaderan language, to which Victor replied coolly each time.

Yuuri felt slightly sick from the scent. He grimaced and stood, dipping his head respectfully in a kind of nonverbal ‘goodbye’. Victor looked torn between the two of them, but the scowling blond was glaring daggers, and Yuuri didn’t feel much like wrestling with a child for someone’s attention.

Their first few hours together passed uneasily, as Yuuri tried to stop flinching everytime the train jostled on the tracks. He spoke more with Phichit, learning that the Betas were going to mount an investigation into the area Yuuri had indicated to find the other omegas.

Things seemed calm enough, though. Yuuri shied away from the other two alphas on the train. Their scents were much like the other alphas Yuuri had met, a bit sour, unpleasant on his nose. His mother had told him alphas smelled good, and it was what made them so dangerous.

The scents of alphas and omegas were designed to draw one another in, to catch like fire and burn bright and focused and passionately hot.

But no alpha other than Victor ever had that dangerous scent his mother had spoken of. Yuuri squinted at Victor the next time he saw him in passing, unsure what to make of the strange pull drawing him in. Phichit had called Victor unusual even among alphas.

“What did you mean, when you said Victor was different?” Yuuri asked, catching Phichit by the shoulder the next time he saw him.

Phichit blinked. “I suppose in Omeha, they don’t discuss it much, do they? Victor is an Alpha Lord.”

“I thought the current leader of Alphadero was a woman named Plisetsky?” Yuuri asked, confused.

“No, it’s different than the King Regent of Alphadero. Have you not heard the legends of Alpha Lords? He’s not royalty, but he might as well be.”

Yuuri blinked. He’d thought it was a mistranslation. The infrequently born creatures in possession of vast amounts of power? “Those are childhood myths. Just stories. They aren’t _real_ ,” Yuuri said doubtfully. “Surely…” He thought of Victor, sitting in his chair like a throne. The scent of the train and everyone on it. “You aren’t serious?”

“It’s true,” Phichit confirmed. Victor, passing by, paused when he saw them speaking. He spoke with Phichit briefly, who nodded, but looked confused. Phichit relayed the message, “He says he wants to ask you a few questions, if that’s alright?  That what is discussed in this room will stay in this room.”

Yuuri heard a few warning bells in his mind, but he nodded. “Tell him I understand. What does he want to know?”

A brief flurry of conversation. Phichit went pale. He argued a bit, and Victor shook his head. He spoke more, and at last, they turned to a very confused Yuuri. Phichit was frowning. “Yuuri, have there been any alphas in Omeha before? Besides the ones who took you and your people?”

Yuuri shook his head. “Never. I’ve never met one before today.”

“Do you know of any alphas that had somehow been… taken to Omeha? The way you had been taken?”

“You don’t seriously think omegas are doing the same things alphas are,” Yuuri said. He looked between Phichit and Victor, alarmed. “What reason would we have to take them away? We wouldn’t dare leave the safety of their borders. If we leave, we’re attacked, assaulted, and abducted.”

Phichit held his hands up. “I don’t know any more than you. Victor just wanted me to ask.” He spoke to Victor for a moment. All the while, Yuuri watched Victor’s face. It flickered for a moment, slightly crestfallen, but the flat smile came back so fast that he doubted Phichit even noticed it.

“Victor says thank you,” Phichit said at last. Yuuri watched Victor’s face. His words said this was all he wanted to say. His eyes said this wasn’t finished yet, and the concern grew graver when he inclined his head toward Phichit.

Victor dismissed Phichit. Yuuri didn’t move.

He sat down beside Victor, and tore up the piece of paper. The map was still out from earlier. He drew alpha symbols on several scraps, and omega symbols on others. He laid the omega symbols in Omeha and the alpha ones in Alphadero. Victor nodded, understanding right away.

Yuuri drew a crown on one of them. He pointed to Victor, who nodded enthusiastically and made delighted sounds, clapping his hands. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile. He frowned again.

He looked at Victor, pantomiming with the scraps a few alphas rounding up omegas and taking them back to Alphadero. Victor frowned as well. Yuuri reset the board, and drew a question mark. Then he pantomimed the reverse- showing the omegas taking alphas.

Victor shook his head. He didn’t know. He indicated a few alpha scraps and then made them disappear. No clues. No leads. No idea where they’d gone.

Victor looked this way and that, as though to make certain they were alone. He pointed at Yuuri and drew a crown on one of the omegas. “One of the Omega Lords did it?” Yuuri asked. He cocked his head, confused.

Victor pointed at the crown again, and then at Yuuri, poking him in the chest a few times for good measure. “T-that’s not possible,” Yuuri said. “I didn’t know there was one Lord, there definitely can’t be two- that’s- that’s crazy, Victor, you know that’s crazy, right?” he babbled.

Victor, of course, didn’t understand a word of it, but the tone of Yuuri’s protests transcended language barriers, because Victor frowned again. When Victor spoke, the words were unclear, but the tone was quite certain.

And buried in the string of words, he said Yuuri’s name, so fiercely certain that it allowed for no misunderstandings. Victor shook his head, like he couldn’t believe Yuuri wasn’t more excited.

Victor frowned. He grabbed a big piece of paper and drew a terribly childish representation of what Yuuri eventually realized was supposed to be a castle. There was a different crown placed on another alpha piece, and this was placed in the castle. Victor placed the Alpha Lord symbol at the first’s feet.

“The Regent?” Yuuri asked. He paused. “Plisetsky, right?”

Victor made a delighted sound. The way this smile lit up his face was beautiful. Yuuri sucked in a breath, taken aback, and yet a tiny part of him was pleased to see the way his whole face changed with joy.

Yuuri let out a tiny, nervous laugh. They were talking. Even with no common language, there was still common ground.

Victor took the Omega Lord Symbol, the Alpha Lord symbol, and had them walk through the castle door to be inside with the Regent. Victor mimed talking with his hands.

Yuuri’s smile faded. Victor shook his head, hands immediately fluttering around Yuuri’s shoulder in a panic. His scent became reassuring. _It’s okay, it’s okay._ Yuuri breathed it in.

Victor wanted him to talk to the Regent. Yuuri shook his head, visibly distressed. He couldn’t talk to the Regent. Victor tapped the Alpha Lord symbol a few times.  He moved it between the Regent and the Omega Lord, looking determined. _I’ll keep you safe_ , it seemed to say. Yuuri wrapped his arms around himself.

If it would save his people, he could do this much.

The train went straight into the heart of Alphadero, coming to a stop before the evening grew too dark.

Yuuri was bundled in thick coats against the cold, collar warm on his throat, lending a small element of safety. The stories echoed in his head like long-forgotten memories.

They said Omega Lords had a power over omegas, betas, and alphas alike. Their influence was supreme above all others, the way Alpha Lords were. The only exception was other lords— they could not command one another, and in this way, there was equality between them.

There were two ways to see if this was true, and that Victor was not exaggerating. He could ask Victor to give him an alpha command to see if he could resist it, or he could, himself, command another alpha to do his bidding. Neither seemed remotely plausible. The former in particular seemed especially unpleasant to try. He’d seen omegas fall under alpha commands, watched the pain in their eyes as their will to resist was lost under the pheromones of an alpha.

He couldn’t suppress a shudder. No thank you.

And yet Victor was so gentle. It was the most surprising thing. He guided Yuuri off the train with nothing more than a helping hand down the step, taking no liberties but offering a hand if Yuuri wanted it. He smiled, and Yuuri’s heart skipped a beat.

The others in Omeha had never made Yuuri feel like this before.

Yuuri was ushered through to a throne room to meet with the Regent, a powerful-looking alpha woman with blond hair and cold green eyes. At her shoulder stood the irritable, newly presented alpha from the train. Guards positioned themselves around the room, reeking of powerful pheromones. Yuuri felt nauseated.

The air in the throne room was cold, nipping Yuuri’s nose. As they approached, Victor inclined his head in deference. He looked back at Yuuri after the Regent finished speaking.

A translator stepped up to Yuuri’s shoulder, not Phichit, but another alpha, uttering, “She says you may speak.”

Yuuri struggled to breathe. The sudden panic was irrational, but it was impossible to ignore. It began with a tremble in his hands and became a tightness in his chest and throat. He was in the very heart of alpha territory, about to tell their leader the crimes of her own people. He must have a death wish.

Then Victor locked eyes with Yuuri, and he could almost smell the words he couldn’t say. _Breathe, speak. It’s okay_. Victor smiled. Yuuri couldn’t help the small relief, the reassurance of a familiar face, a sweet scent.

He took a breath and told his story from beginning to end, glossing a bit over the heat, though he did feel his cheeks warm after thanking Victor for his aid. He coughed quietly when his story was done.

The Regent’s voice rang out, harsh and cold. The translator whispered, “She is condemning the perpetrators, but demands to know about the missing alphas. She says the omegas have taken them.”

“I don’t know anything about alphas, any more than your people know about mine within your borders,” Yuuri snapped. “Your people have caused our suffering for centuries. You stole me from my bed and intended to use me as a plaything. If my people took your alphas, I can’t say I blame them!”

The translator stuttered. The Regent stared down her nose, green eyes icy and impassive. The blond boy from before sucked in a breath. Victor’s eyes were wide and blue and shocked, and he was so beautiful it hurt to look directly at him. Yuuri took a breath to steady himself.

“I don’t mean to offend you, Regent, I sincerely don’t. But you have to understand that I know as much about your missing alphas as you knew about _me_.”

* * *

Victor was stunned into silence. The entire court was. Even the translator had fallen silent, and Victor was enraptured. Everything about the omega seemed different when he spoke. His eyes burned brighter, his back was a little straighter, and he stood a little taller.

It was gorgeous, and Victor couldn’t look away, even as Yuuri at last fell silent, shrinking in on himself. Yuuri looked panicked.

Victor quickly slid into the conversation, picking up where Yuuri had left it. “Yuuri makes a point. We cannot expect him to know their fates. However, returning the omegas could be considered enough an act of good will for us to determine more precisely if there was any involvement from Omeha. By conducting an investigation of our own, we can press for them to look into matters.”

“I do not trust the Omegas to reliably investigate the issue,” the Regent replied. “They are as cunning as they are cruel, and they would sooner castrate our people and cut out their scent glands than return them to us. I will allow the investigation into the Ice Depths, but will not return them unless the Omegas return to us their prisoners.”

“Those in Bedarine consider us the aggressors in the matter,” Victor protested. “If we press the issue further, there would be a riot in the streets, and the borders would close to us for decades.”

“This is not the time for your peace-loving willfulness, Victor. If Omegas want war, it’s a war they will get. Right, Yuri?”

“The Betas want to rub our noses in their shit,” Yuri snorted. “They don’t want peace, they want Alphas to be shackled down.” He glared pointedly at Victor. Victor smiled plainly back. Yuuri hadn’t mentioned Victor being chained to the bed, and perhaps it was best if that wasn’t said.

“There is a way to find an equitable peace,” Victor said. “I am certain of it. A way that doesn’t lose us our rights.”

The Regent looked unimpressed. “We will send soldiers to investigate the Icy Depths. Table this discussion for today. We mustn’t count our omegas before they present.” Victor grimaced.

“And what of Yuuri?” Victor asked.

“We cannot knowingly harbor an omega within our borders. If our people caught wind of it there would be a riot. It would be easiest to send him back where he came from.”

Yuuri sucked in a little breath as this was translated to him. He looked at Victor immediately, worry in his eyes. The translator picked up his words. “But how will I know if my people are found? What if they’re never returned? My friends are out there. My family. I have to make sure they’re safe.”

“Surely he can stay until the omegas are recovered,” Victor offered. “He can be under my protection.”

“You’re aware of the risks? An Alpha Lord has not taken a consort in generations. There will certainly be outrage.”

“I’m not making him my consort or mate,” Victor said smoothly, though his ears were reddened slightly at the tips. “Yuuri is free to leave when he desires. Until such time, he shall be granted every comfort we can provide him. That is what I ask.”

“Granted, on one condition,” the Regent said. “You must broker this agreement on _my_ terms, understand?”

“Done,” Victor said. “I accept your terms. We can discuss the situation more later, but for now, I am weary from travel and wish to bathe and rest.”

“Rest, I will get the rest of your story tomorrow. And take the Omega with you. He is under your supervision. His safety is your concern. You know the risks, should anything befall him inside our borders.”

Victor inclined his head. “Yes, your Majesty. Yuuri will be safe with me.”

The young blond alpha let out an annoyed scent, his expression dark like he wanted to say something. Two days since Victor had found Yuuri in a cave, and already he was making rash decisions. It would work out, it had too.

Victor backed towards the door, gesturing for Yuuri to follow. They were barely through the doors before Victor turned with a helpless grin. “Yuuri! You were amazing!”

The translator passed his words on, and Yuuri’s cheeks took in a pleasant rosy color. The translator tried to convey Yuuri’s demure, “It was nothing,” but with none of the soft feeling, the undercurrents of joy and modesty and the cute little smile on his lips.

Victor beckoned Yuuri on. The translator dutifully followed along like a loyal puppy. “The Regent is cold, but she’ll find the omegas. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“As long as they’re safe,” Yuuri said. Victor could only hope he was getting the true translation and not a summary. Yuuri looked visibly uncomfortable around the stranger, as much as he was overwhelmed with the sights and sounds and smells of a new kingdom.

The smells of _alpha_ suffused everything, and for an omega, there was no way it wasn’t disorienting, or at the very least unpleasant.

Victor impulsively reached out, offering a wrist. He had hoped, but certainly not expected Yuuri to take it delicately in his hands, running it over the scent glands on the insides of his wrists. He rubbed it against his collarbone, his cheeks, his neck, looking visibly relieved. “This is okay?”

“Too many scents,” the translator conveyed. He didn’t capture the slight exasperation in Yuuri’s voice. Victor yearned to speak directly to him, without a translator between them.

Yuuri had yet to let go of Victor’s hand. Victor gave it a squeeze and an impish smile. His eyes darted down the hall, then back at Yuuri. A challenge. Yuuri grinned. They broke into a run.

Yuuri broke into laughter, the most musical and magical sound Victor could possibly imagine. Victor led them through the castle, taking turns he knew would confuse the translator, until it was just them. Victor’s legs ached from the confines of the train. The castle garden awaited.

Few wandered the garden, as it could barely be called such. The climate was inhospitable to most plants, leaving only those hardy enough to survive the chilly summers and harsh winters. And walking through it demanded something warm to wear. Luckily, Yuuri still had his coat on.

They walked the garden in companionable silence. Yuuri occasionally paused at some plant or another, and Victor would give its name. “Banesbreath.”

“Banesbreath,” Yuuri echoed, though heavily accented.

“Winter’s Kiss.”

Yuuri rubbed his thumb over the tiny, waxy leaves, the pert, pink flowers. “Winter’s Kiss.”

“Yuuri… Being entirely forthright with you… and I can’t imagine being able to say this if you could understand me,” Victor began, laughing a bit at his own foolishness. “I like you. I like you a lot.”

Yuuri cocked his head. “I like you,” he repeated, and Victor had to clutch his chest and try not to perish from how cute Yuuri was. Yuuri asked a question, but the language was lost.

Yuuri spied a flower in the corner and ran to it. Victor followed. “Oraesthrin,” Yuuri said. He cupped a red bloom in his hand, avoiding the thorns. They had them in his country?

“Oraesthrin?” He paused, and Yuuri nodded. “Rose,” Victor said with a smile.

“Rose,” Yuuri echoed. He nodded to himself again, as though committing the name to memory.

When Yuuri began to shiver, Victor led him back inside. They departed for Victor’s quarters to warm themselves by the fire.

Victor’s were a spacious set of rooms, each with a fireplace, one of which was a parlor draped in furs and tapestries.

Yuuri circled the room, a clever and inquisitive eye taking in each new thing he saw, studying the trinkets and the portraits of previous Alpha Lords.

“Alpha Lord,” Victor said, pointing a few of the portraits out.

“Alpha Lord,” Yuuri replied, testing the word out. “Victor Alpha Lord?”

“Yes, yes!” Victor cheered.

Yuuri let a complex tumble of syllables fall from his lips.  Victor echoed the term, and Yuuri beamed at him. Alpha Lord in the Omehan language.

One of the portraits, the very oldest one, showed two figures in the frame. He pointed to the Alpha Lord and repeated it. Yuuri said, “Alpha Lord,” in answer, tasting the words like foreign cuisine, handling them cautiously, delicately.

Victor pointed to the other figure and said “Omega Lord.” Yuuri understood immediately, but he squinted at Victor. He repeated the word, pointing at the painting, but then at himself while shaking his head. Victor poked Yuuri’s chest. “Omega Lord.” Yuuri shook his head emphatically.

Victor sighed and sat on the bed. Yuuri hesitated for a moment before sitting down beside him. He drew circles on the bedsheet with his finger. After a moment, he murmured something.

“You’re not fair,” Victor breathed. “I’ve never met anyone like you before in my life.”

Yuuri made a confused sound, and looked away, muttering something. Victor was dying to know what he said, what he thought. He wanted to know what was racing through Yuuri’s mind, so clear behind his warm, brown eyes. There was so much depth there, so many things he wanted to know, and yet the thought of bringing a translator back would ruin the moment.

Yuuri was less on edge than before, and the privacy of Victor’s room minimized the scents of other alphas. It must have been easier to relax.

“You’re stunning, enchanting,” Victor murmured. “Clever, beautiful, impetuous Yuuri, I want to know more about you. I want to know everything.”

Yuuri said something, his tone soft and his cheeks a rosy red.

Victor laughed, not a cruel laugh but something soft and sweet, pure with giddy delight. “That sounded like a love confession,” Victor said softly. “You know, I’ve never felt this way before. It feels nice.”

He laid back, gesturing for Yuuri to talk if he so wished. He liked listening to Yuuri’s voice, even if the words were something he couldn’t understand.

Yuuri talked and talked, and Victor dozed. Heavy eyes fell closed for a moment. Fingers stroked through his hair. It was nice that Yuuri didn’t seem afraid of Victor without his muzzle.

Victor’s breath evened out. Yuuri even smelled like heaven, a combination of freshness and peace, of summer sunlight, winter winds, spring rain, autumn leaves.

Something brushed his lips. He opened his eyes, seeing Yuuri quickly pull his hand back with a shocked little squawk. Victor smiled. “I won’t bite.”

He closed his eyes again, laying perfectly still as Yuuri tentatively touched his mouth again.

Yuuri pulled up the corners of Victor’s lips, exposing the canine teeth. They were slightly more prominent than a beta’s, sharp and meant for bonding bites. Yuuri poked them with a finger.

Victor flicked his tongue out to catch the tip, licking it as Yuuri pulled away. Yuuri flew backwards, letting out a horrified gasp, clutching his hand and looking scandalized. He said something disapproving, clicking his tongue. Victor laughed.

Yuuri shook his head, but the tension melted away all the same, slowly but surely. Yuuri relaxed again, shaking his head but smiling. He poked Victor’s cheek in retaliation.

Victor laughed, and Yuuri poked him again, closer to his mouth this time. The next time Yuuri tried, Victor pecked his fingertip with a little kiss.

Yuuri went crimson, sucking in his breath with a stunned, “Victor!”

“Yuuuuri~” Victor cooed. Yuuri flopped on the bed, burying his face. He peeked out again, rumpled and beautiful.

Victor would give anything to see Yuuri in his bed for the rest of his life.

The suddenness of the thought struck him, but as quickly as it had come to him, the more certain he was that it was true. Regardless of idle alpha possessiveness or true love,  Victor wanted Yuuri by his side in some capacity.

Victor laughed and rolled onto Yuuri, hugging him suddenly enough to make Yuuri jump in surprise. He was ready to pull away until the moment Yuuri embraced him back, scrubbing his wrists over Victor and blanketing him in Yuuri’s scent.

Victor groaned weakly, already imagining the jealousy the other alphas would burn with. “Oh Yuuri, you’re going to make protecting you very difficult,” he said. But so, so worth it.

* * *

In the light of dawn, Yuuri was more beautiful than ever. Victor swept open the curtains, sending more natural light into the room. Yuuri’s nose scrunched cutely. He buried his face in the blankets. He could sleep a few more minutes.

Victor rang for several lower ranked alphas to meet him in the parlor outside the bedr0oom. The first he sent off to gather fresh clothes, the second for breakfast, and the third to draw a bath for them. The alphas cast longing gazes at the door, behind which Yuuri still slumbered.

Victor returned to the room, brushing Yuuri’s hair back from his face. “Wake up, my sleeping beauty. Do you want to bathe and have breakfast?”

Yuuri muttered soft protests, pushing Victor away. Victor could barely contain the squeal of delight from escaping him. Yuuri was too cute! He hugged Yuuri, rubbing his scent glands over Yuuri. Presumptuous, maybe, but Yuuri opened his eyes in surprise, blinking at him owlishly.

Yuuri retrieved a pair of spectacles from beside the bed, where he’d left them before sleeping. He rubbed his eyes. “Nnnggh, Victor?” he murmured. He mumbled something incomprehensible. Victor scooped Yuuri up.

“Time to wake up! Big day, and the baths here are much better than the ones on the train. But you’ll see for yourself,” Victor chattered. He carried Yuuri from the room to the bathroom. The tub was full of warm, softly scented water. He placed Yuuri on his feet. Yuuri looked around himself.

With no shame at all, Victor watched in shock as Yuuri disrobed. He had expected even a small measure of modesty from Yuuri, but instead he saw Yuuri completely unphased by his state of undress. He sank into the water with a purr and what seemed like a “thank you,” although Victor wasn’t certain.

He quickly washed the travel off him, eyes closed, purring from the warmth.

Yuuri opened his eyes, blinking up at Victor. He opened his arms, looking around the spacious tub and patting the side of it. _There’s room,_ he seemed to say. Yuuri’s hands trembled. Victor stripped and joined him.

The water was pleasantly hot, circling around him and heating him inside and out. Yuuri shuffled closer, taking Victor’s hand. _He just wanted to be close_ , Victor realized. Yuuri was scared, and he didn’t want to show it. Victor couldn’t help the feeling in his chest, swelling with pride when he figured it out.

Yuuri didn’t want to seem scared, his pride must have been prickling at the thought, but being alone in a dangerous country made Yuuri bold, too, not just scared. Victor pressed closer to Yuuri, eager to be there for him.

Yuuri’s cheekbones went red, and his little omega cock (which Victor was not looking at, definitely not) was stiffening in the warm water. A startled purr slipped out.

Were they moving too fast? Would Yuuri back off now? Victor barely had time to think before Yuuri was on his knees, straddling Victor with heavy eyes. Still sleepy, his lust made him look devastatingly sultry and yet innocent at the same time. He curled against Victor’s naked chest. Lips skimmed the skin, leaving featherlight kisses.

He looked up at Victor, uncertain.

He could feel it too, Victor realized. He could feel the attraction between them, the siren song pulling them together. “Yuuri,” Victor whispered, before suddenly he was cut off with a kiss. Yuuri was kissing him. Victor looped his arms gently around Yuuri’s waist. “Is this okay?”

Yuuri didn’t answer, didn’t know how to. His eyes burned bright with curiosity but the spark in them didn’t fade. He trailed his fingers lightly down Victor’s arms. Yuuri bit his lip. Victor desperately wanted to know what was running through his head.

What changed? On the train, Yuuri had shied away from Victor, uncertain and fearful.

Victor had been willing to chalk it up to lingering trauma, and yet Yuuri seemed hell bent on surprising him at every turn. Just when he thought Yuuri would be afraid of the Regent, he looked her in the eye and told her off. When he thought Yuuri would shy away, Yuuri pushed forward, letting their lips meet in the softest brush. They’d known each other such a short time, measured in days rather than the years of traditional courting. And yet...

Victor felt a shiver ripple under his skin. Yuuri moved against him, shifting so that he sat on Victor’s lap. The moment seemed endless, and Victor couldn’t breathe, his eyes blown wide with shock.

Yuuri was bold and beautiful, but there was a shyness too. His scent was layered with emotions they couldn’t put into words— safety, fledgling trust, nerves, hope, passion, desire. Yuuri’s kisses grew more eager, and his purring became louder.

His touch was bolder now. Victor could feel the skimming touches sliding up his hips, brushing the warm tips of fingers over his abs.

Yuuri tipped his head, and Victor deepened the kiss. He cupped Yuuri’s face in one hand, tasting the sweet honey of Yuuri’s mouth. It was like lightning running through their bodies, a live current where they made contact. It was messy, passionate, and absolutely terrible, and Victor had never had a better kiss in his life.

Yuuri’s touch traveled lower, brushing his stomach, his groin, settling on Victor’s stirring cock. The kiss broke as Yuuri made a startled noise, wrapping his fingers around it. He blushed the prettiest red color.

“Yes, yes,” Victor breathed. “You took it all so beautifully, I’ve never seen someone as gorgeous as you.”

Yuuri looked at Victor, shyly kissing him once more. The nervousness of his expression was as cute as it was off-putting. He didn’t want Yuuri afraid. He didn’t like seeing Yuuri so unsure.

Then he realized the issue. Yuuri had pulled his hand away from Victor’s cock, and he hesitantly circled his entrance with his fingertips, gathering the slick and uncertain of how best to proceed. He pressed those fingers inside himself, biting his lip.

“Oh, Yuuri,” Victor gasped. The air seemed to have been punched from his lungs. Yuuri let out a soft whimper of annoyance. It wasn’t satisfying, not the way it should have been.

Victor pressed a finger alongside Yuuri’s and slid it inside, wet, fluid slickness opening up for him. The stretch took Yuuri by surprise. He made the cutest startled noise, which faded into a shaky, breath moan as Victor began to rub against his insides.

With the other hand, Victor played with Yuuri’s cute cock. Yuuri sang, the most beautiful litany of cries and moans falling from his lips as Victor wound him up. Yuuri’s head fell back.

Victor teased Yuuri until the only sounds he made were moans and purrs, scattered in the room and echoing softly, reverberating back on them. He was drooling, clinging. His fingers were claws, sinking into Victor’s skin.

He was soft and open, the scented water steaming up the air around them and making his body go lax around Victor’s thrusting fingers. “Victor…” Yuuri breathed. His eyes fluttered. Victor was going to die.

He groaned, unable to resist as Yuuri pulled his fingers out and lifted his hips. Victor guided him down onto his cock, and Yuuri sank down, slowly taking Victor inch by excruciating inch.

Yuuri’s sigh was the prettiest thing Victor had ever head.

They laid together, their bodies joined, unhurried in the still water of the bath. Yuuri folded himself, purring intensely, resting his head on Victor’s chest.

Wordless and perfect, the moment seemed to stretch on into oblivion. Yuuri made the sweetest, most pleased sounds. Over and over, he purred, “Victor…. Victor…”

They rocked together, so slowly that it barely disturbed the surface of the water. Yuuri’s head fell back. “Nngh, Victor…” The rest of the words were lost as he came, panting and clutching for Victor’s touch.

He kept rocking as his insides milked Victor’s cock, drawing out Victor’s breath and teasing him closer to orgasm. Victor stifled a breathy cry as he came.

Yuuri clung to him, unmoving as they caught their breath. The water was clouded with their release. Victor laughed softly, leaving a swift kiss on Yuuri’s nose.

Yuuri’s red cheeks darkened, but he looked quite pleased with himself, glowing with the aftermath of his orgasm. Victor would worship the ground this omega walked on.

Omegas were lovely, dangerous creatures, calculating and cunning. Yuuri was truly the most wicked of them all, luring Victor in with his soft smile and gentle grace. And yet, even if this was a trap, Victor had fallen.

Pleased with himself, Yuuri stood on shaky legs, reaching for a towel nearby. Victor watched water sluice down the lines of Yuuri’s body. He was enraptured at every turn. And Victor could only dream of seeing what Yuuri could do if he only accepted the truth.

* * *

Yuuri couldn’t stop blushing all day.

The translator found them soon after they had dressed, annoyed and lecturing Victor and Yuuri in their respective languages about responsibility and duty to the crown.

Victor laughed his off. Yuuri accepted his with a soft smile and pretended he was paying attention. As they were led down to a dining hall for breakfast, Yuuri couldn’t tamp down the heat in his cheeks.

With every step he took, it seemed like he felt Victor inside him still. When he was in heat, his body had recovered quickly, leaving him drained but feeling normal. Today, he felt sore, limping with each step. But it was a pleasant kind of ache, one that settled deep in his bones with a smug satisfaction.

He had fucked an Alpha Lord and lived to tell the tale. Not only that, but it was better than the stories had said. And yet, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a little ache in his heart. He tried to tell himself it was simply a means to an end, a way to place himself in good favor with the Alphaderan Dynasty, but Yuuri was possibly lying to himself a bit.

Victor didn’t hold all the power, not really: he wasn’t king. And he took commands from the Regent herself, even if a single alpha command from him could make the Regent take a knee. It was a curious puzzle.

So if Victor wasn’t as all powerful as he was supposed to be… then why did Yuuri put so much faith in him?

A little voice said love. Another voice said lust. Yuuri didn’t know which was right. Maybe both. He glanced at Victor from the corner of his eye, and decided that now was not the time to worry either way. As long as Victor liked him, he’d be safe right?

Did Victor like him? An alpha who made a nest of bedsheets for Yuuri, who plucked him from the jaws of otherwise certain death and gave him the means to save his friends and family. Was this love Yuuri felt? Gratitude?

Victor thought Yuuri was an Omega Lord. How disappointed he would be when he realized he was wrong. And yet Victor treated him well, better than the other alphas.

They looked on as he walked, some disgusted with his presence, some lustfully, as though they saw him as just a walking sleeve for their cocks. Victor offered them all the same cold smile, and they went on with their business.

Breakfast was an uncomfortable affair, and they barely caught the Regent as she finished her food. She narrowed her eyes at Victor and made a cold comment that the translator, buried in his meal, did not answer.

Yuuri assumed he caught the gist of it, if the way she sniffed in their direction and the disapproving look were any indication.

“Where have Phichit and the other betas gone?” Yuuri asked. The translator looked up from his meal. Yuuri drummed his fingers on the table. Victor answered soon after the message was passed to him.

“They’re joining the expedition into the Icy Depths. Someone needs to be there to translate for the omegas they find and it will help our case to allow the Betas our full cooperation in the recovery efforts.”

“We aren’t going?” Yuuri asked.

Victor shook his head. “The Icy Depths get their name for being a perilous crevasse near the Dragonridge mountains. The only ones being sent there are those who are absolutely vital to the recovery mission. There are few who travel there because it is dangerous even for those properly garbed. If I had to guess, the idea was to set the omegas loose without proper equipment and then drive them right into the ‘relative safety’ of the alphas. Cruel, but certainly effective.”

“Their choices would be giving themselves up or death,” Yuuri whispered. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s why we’re moving as fast as we can. They have a head start, but we can move faster. Their progress is slowed by the large caravan, so my hope is that there is still a chance we can get there before they do, even with our delay here. We’re keeping numbers light for the initial wave, since speed is crucial right now, but we have a secondary team of search and rescue members who have sworn an oath to protect the victims, the same as the first team.”

“They’ll be safe?”

“As safe as we can manage,” Victor said. “Our odds aren’t ideal, but you’ve given them a chance at survival, Yuuri. Thanks to you, they can have hope.”

Victor reached beneath the table, finding Yuuri’s knee with his hand and giving it a tiny squeeze. Yuuri slithered his hand down and laced their fingers together.

Victor’s words brought him comfort. Victor’s touch brought him even more. There were times when they were apart, but the times they were together more than made it up.

Even so, leaving Yuuri to his own devices had an unintended side effect. Victor made it easier to bear the lingering stares of other alphas, the possessive and dark glares they leveled on Victor. Without him, they carried a certain menace, no matter Victor’s assurances that they wouldn’t touch him.

“It’s nothing personal,” Victor had said through the translating alpha beside them. “I promise. Imagine a man starving on the streets for months, barely eking out a living. Then imagine waving an all you can eat buffet in his face, telling him he can’t have a bite. That’s what they think, seeing you with me. The envy they have rots them inside and out.”

“So being with me…” Yuuri murmured, realizing what it was. It was status. The thought immediately sickened him.

“Is a dream come true,” Victor murmured, taking Yuuri’s hand. Yuuri wanted to throw up. The translator stuttered over the comment, seemingly shocked by Victor’s statement. “I have to meet with the Regent again tonight. Stay close to Alexei, he’ll take you anywhere you need to go and help you find what you need.”

Yuuri nodded. He split most of his time between the garden and Victor’s rooms, as well as exploring the grounds a little.

Sometimes he sat on the bench in the garden, listening to the soft songs of the birds while Alexei sulked from the boredom. Without Victor to show him around, Yuuri went back there, watching the sun set between the stone parapets and the shadows lengthen over the twisting cobblestone paths.

“What’s so fascinating about a garden anyway?” Alexei muttered.

Yuuri laced his fingers together. His thumb rubbed a circle on the back of his other hand as he looked for words, but there were none that explained why the garden felt safer than anywhere else. He reached out and pulled a rose blossom off the nearby bush, plucking the thorns one by one from the stem.

“It’s empty… quiet. Reminds me of home,” Yuuri said. “Why do you know the Omehan language?”

“My family thought that it would get me a better position on the court if I learned. Little did I know I would just end up playing babysitter,” he grumbled. “Don’t you want to go inside?”

Yuuri took a breath. How did Victor do it? A Command. He cleared his throat and said, “Sit and stay a while.” He tried to make his voice as commanding as possible. Alexei looked unimpressed, tapping his feet impatiently. Yuuri sighed. “It’s getting late. We should get dinner after all,” Yuuri agreed. Alexei showed him to Victor’s room, and he returned a few minutes later with dinner. “Thank you.”

Alexei dismissed himself for the night and Yuuri was alone.

Days passed, sometimes with Victor at his side, sometimes without. There was no news yet, but it would be slow to get back. Even as the crow flew, it was a day and a half long journey. They would know the fates soon, though it did little to settle Yuuri’s anxious nerves. Ten days since Yuuri had been found in a cave. Two weeks spent worrying about the fate of his family.

Victor beckoned Yuuri, one morning. “Come here, I want to share something with you. Alexei, help me with this.”

The translator frowned, realizing what he just said, and followed along as they hurried to the library.

“It’s over here!” Victor called. He was moving strangely. He was pale, too, Yuuri realized. The translator chaperoned them to the back of the library, where the books were more colorful and were decorated with hand drawn images. Victor pulled one out. He spoke with the translator for a while, and the translator sighed, resigned to his job.

Reluctantly, Alexei gathered a pen and paper and began to diligently copy. It took a bit of time, and Victor and Yuuri sat back, watching Alexei work. Victor looked pointedly at Yuuri. Yuuri shook his head, not understanding.

He waited until Alexei looked away to lift Victor’s palm to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the back. Victor made a little sound that caused the translator to look up.

Victor spoke to him.

The translator sighed. “He says, ‘This was my favorite book as a child. I hope you like it as much as I did.’ I can’t believe he’s making me translate a children’s book for him.” He shot Victor a dirty look.

When Yuuri was given the translation and the colorful picture book, the first thing that struck him was not the illustrations, but the text. The lettering was not entirely the same, but very similar, enough for Yuuri to read the foreign words without necessarily understanding them.

A line demarcated each new page. As he flipped through the lushly illustrated children’s book, it was difficult to see why it had been Victor’s favorite. Yuuri knew how this story ended, and it didn’t seem like something Victor would like.

It told the tale of the first Alpha and Omega Lords, who ruled over a harmonious kingdom where Alphas and Omegas lived together in peace. It took the combined powers of the two to maintain peace throughout the world.

One day, however, centuries ago, the Omega died of an illness. Distraught, the Alpha locked herself away and refused to face the world. Her lands fell into turmoil.

Yuuri knew this story very well, since it was one he had been told as a child. It did not have a happy ending.

After the death of both, the Alphas and Omegas began to fight. The conflict waged, brutal and bloody, escalating into a full war. They took sides, drew lines. Sometimes an Alpha Lord would be born, sometimes an Omega Lord, upsetting the balance and plunging the worlds back into chaos. Having a Lord on one side or the other gave an undisputed edge.

And then, for a time, there were no Lords. The Betas took this period and established a fragile peace, and that peace had lasted for centuries.

No one knew if another Alpha Lord or Omega Lord would be born. A few had been seen, but their lives rarely matched up, and even more rarely did they meet up.

The two sides were still uneasy with one another, and tensions often flared up. It was wishful thinking, if Victor wanted peace. It was a wonderful thought, to be sure. But Yuuri was never so foolish as to think their two nations could get along.

He found the end of the book, and he froze, reading the last pages over once, twice. He turned back, tracing his fingers over the last few lines of story.

_The war continues, but there is still hope. The day will come, and Omegas and Alphas together will create…_

Yuuri turned to the final page, feeling his chest tighten at the illustration of an Alpha Lord character and an Omega Lord character holding hands, standing beneath a rainbow. There were only two words. “Lasting peace,” Yuuri breathed.

Victor smiled. He said a pair of words in Alphaderan, and Yuuri echoed them, trying out the lilt and the harsh burr at the end.

Victor laughed. Alexei’s expression was sour. “Your pronunciation is terrible.” Yuuri sucked in a breath.

“You think there can be peace between our people?” Yuuri asked.

Victor spoke for a while, while the translator stared dumbfounded at him, mouth gaping like a fish. Yuuri glared until the translator sputtered and started to relay it.

“Ah, the gist… well, yes. He does. Um, something about how he thinks that a Omega Lord will appear and restore balance and that, uh…” He spoke for a bit with Victor. “Well he thinks you’re the key? Overestimating you, I think,” Alexei grumbled.

Yuuri frowned. Alexei was not as good a translator as Phichit was. Yuuri missed the vivacious beta more each day, and not just because he didn’t made asides.

“Tell Victor that I still don’t know what he’s thinking… but if he _was_ right, that it would be… nice.”

Yuuri looked away, shuffling his feet. His cheeks were hot. He _wanted_ to be what Victor thought of him. He wanted to be Victor’s Omega Lord. As stupid and silly and childish as it was, Victor’s storybook dream of peace was infectious. Victor was smiling at him, endlessly sweet and charming.

The next time Yuuri was alone, he practiced again. He inflected his voice different ways. He tried to change the pheromones eking out of him. Other than pissing off Alexei, who thought he was an idiot, nothing happened. Yuuri shook his head and told Alexei to leave him be.

He flopped into Victor’s bed, burying his face. He was not what Victor wanted of him, and he would never be. Wanting to be an Omega Lord for Victor’s sake would not make it true. He breathed in deep Victor’s rich scent. It was like moonbeams on a foggy night, freshly bloomed roses, milky white cream freshly poured into a saucer. Everything about it was clean and fresh.

The door opened with a whisper soft sweep over the rugs, and Yuuri lifted his head. Victor walked right into Yuuri’s open arms, folding himself inside and tucking his head into Yuuri’s neck. He was warm. No, Yuuri realized. He was hot, much warmer than he should have been.

Yuuri raked his fingers up Victor’s neck, into the scalp. It was damp with sweat. He pulled back, and he pressed his hand to Victor’s forehead. There was barely time to feel the fire-bright flare of heat before Victor shook it off, shaking his head and protesting.

He flexed, pantomiming his strength and health. Yuuri frowned. He shook his head pointedly, trying to push Victor onto the bed. Victor wrestled back, weaker than normal. Yuuri let out a triumphant sound when Victor was pushed back, going limp on the bed.

Yuuri pointed at Victor, and furrowed his brows, then pantomimed sleeping with a pillow by resting his head on his hands.

Victor was sulking. “You’re sick,” Yuuri said. “You’re working too hard. Rest for now.”

Victor grabbed Yuuri by the middle and pulled him back so he was lying flush with Victor. Their eyes met, inches away. His gaze burned with defiance, but also a bit of acceptance. Victor’s feverish warmth felt good, even with the guilt that he had likely caused all this trouble.

“I’m sorry I got you sick,” he murmured.

Victor’s words were sleepy and muddled. Yuuri stroked Victor’s hair until Victor fell asleep.

The first sign that something was wrong appeared when morning came. Victor was always out of bed before Yuuri awoke. But as sunlight filtered through the curtains, and gradually afternoon crept in, Victor still didn’t stir. He slept soundly, even when Yuuri finally awoke.

Yuuri placed a hand to Victor’s forehead. It was feverishly hot, dangerously so. “Victor? Victor, wake up,” Yuuri murmured. He gave Victor a soft shake. Victor didn’t stir, but rather let out a weak, deflated whimper.

Yuuri hopped to his feet. There had to be someone who could help.

Yuuri ran to get help. The corridors were busy with Alphas running this way and that, and he could feel the lingering stares. He smelled a little like Victor, but he hadn’t thought to properly scent himself.

Yuuri ran faster. There was a medic hall somewhere within the castle. Victor had mentioned it once, but Yuuri hadn’t seen it.

Yuuri took the steps two at a time, racing up them. He was short of breath, lungs aching. How long had he been running? He tried to find a familiar face and found nothing. “Please, help me,” Yuuri gasped, turning to a person at random. They gave him an odd look. “Victor is- do you know where the medic hall is? Please,” Yuuri said. The alpha walked on.

Yuuri spotted Alexei. He sprinted forward, panting. “Please, Alexei, where is the medic hall? Victor- Victor is sick- he needs medicine-”

“What?” Alexei asked.  

“Please, I need help finding medicine for Victor, he’s got a fever and he won’t wake up-”

“Won’t wake up?” Alexei said.

“He won’t,” Yuuri panted. “And I can’t find anyone who speaks Omehan.”

“I’m the only one in the castle right now who does,” Alexei said primly. He leered down his nose, expression unpleasant. “Follow me, I can help you.”

He led Yuuri into a room, closing the door behind them both. The room was mostly empty, just a few chairs, a body-length mirror, a bed and a dresser.

“Where are we? This isn’t the medic hall,” Yuuri said, turning around.

“It’s not. But this is an opportunity I can’t afford to let pass,” Alexei said. He grasped the front of his robes, beginning to unfasten them. Yuuri was struck dumb for a moment in shock as Alexei exposed himself, taking himself in hand with a few lazy strokes.

“You can’t!” Yuuri hissed, coming to life and stumbling back a step.“You touch me and Victor will-”

“-continue to be sick in bed. Unless, of course, you spread your legs for me and let me wet my cock.”

Yuuri froze. His expression turned dark. “Absolutely not. You’re just jealous like the others Victor mentioned.”

“Maybe so. But you’re never going to get out of here, I’m afraid, unless things go my way,” Alexei said. He leaned against the door, physically imposing. “I’ve babysat you and put up with the Alpha Lord’s juvenile demands long enough. It’s time I get my recompense. This is going to be an easy exchange. We both get what we want,” he reasoned.

“Let me go!” Yuuri demanded. Alexei took a step forward and Yuuri stumbled back. “Don’t you dare touch me. When the others find out-”

“Victor said it himself. Everyone in this country is suffering. The omegas hold all the power in the world, and they don’t share a drop of it. That’s changing, for me anyway,” Alexei said smugly. “No more feeling like I’m crawling out of my skin. No more synthetic compounds. But while I wait for my chance… you’ll have to do.”

Yuuri couldn’t breathe. “You think it’s better for omegas? You think living in fear is power? This war hurts us too. It hurts everyone. And if you don’t let me get help for Victor, it will never get better.”

“You don’t actually believe in his little fairy tale do you? Fancy yourself an Omega Lord, bossing Alphas around?” Alexei took another step forward, and this time, Yuuri didn’t move. He stared Alexei down.

“Maybe I do. But you’re going to let me go.” Alexei didn’t flinch. Yuuri sucked in a breath. “ _LET ME GO.”_

Yuuri’s eyes flashed bright red in the mirrored reflection.

Alexei’s expression went slack and the color drained from his face. It surged through Yuuri’s body, positively electric. Yuuri pushed, and something under his skin seemed to _snap_. Yuuri’s eyes began to burn.

“ _Show me where the medic ward is,”_ Yuuri commanded. Alexei’s legs gave out. He collapsed to the floor, only to scramble back to his feet like a puppet jerked up on strings.

Yuuri held his chest as Alexei fell over himself, wrenching open the door and stumbling down the hall. He followed a few steps behind. The power rushed through him, and Yuuri pushed again, tapping into a reservoir deep within himself.

“ _Hurry_ ,” he said.

Alexei moved faster, a bit jerky as he started to walk with more purpose than before. In minutes, they were outside a large, open hall with several medical beds and shelving heavy with concoctions and medicines. Alexei crumpled outside the archway.

Yuuri could feel the power waning now, shaky like a strained muscle. “ _Tell the Regent what you’ve done_.”

Alexei was back on his feet. He was out the door. Yuuri squared his shoulders, fire burning inside him. He stepped inside, finding a doctor. “Victor Nikiforov,” Yuuri said. He scrambled to remember the word for Alpha Lord in the Alphaderan tongue, before miming a fever with his hands.

Yuuri was half in tears before the doctor finally understood him, stopped gaping, and gathered, at the very least, what Yuuri was trying to convey. The doctor grabbed her bag and a nurse and hurried out the door. Yuuri followed close behind.

Victor was dazed and unconscious when Yuuri stepped back inside, letting out soft, worried sounds. Yuuri crawled into Victor's arms, scenting him until Victor's breathing slowed slightly.

"I got help," Yuuri breathed. "You'll be okay. It'll be okay." The doctor barked orders to the nurse and Yuuri was made to step back onto the floor, making room for the pair to work. Yuuri didn't let go of Victor's hand the entire time.

The doctor had the nurse running multiple errands in the next few hours, fetching this and that to bring down the fever and restore Victor’s vitality. Yuuri sat quietly, just watching. Victor's thumb rubbed small circles over the back of Yuuri's hand, occasionally gathering a bit of scent from Yuuri's wrist and bringing it to his face. Yuuri felt his heart ache.

Victor had been right all along.

Yuuri remembered the seductive taste of the power as he wielded it. The way Alexei had fallen to his knees at Yuuri's command. The doctor and nurse soon left. Victor smiled softly at Yuuri, sleepy and sweet. He murmured to Yuuri, words that were lost into the pillows.

Yuuri wasn’t sure how much time passed like this. He couldn’t bear to leave Victor’s side. A few meals were brought to the bedside by alpha attendants, and Yuuri care to gently feed Victor the creamy broth they brought. And all the while, Victor was nearly insensate from his incapacitation.

He was lost to the world. He clung to Yuuri like he was frightened they would both disappear. It felt nice to be wanted like this. It satisfied the lingering ache drawing him in, pulling him toward Victor.

Yuuri looked out the door. He wondered what would happen now. But at least Victor would be alright, and that was the most important thing.

They dozed together for a long time. Yuuri drifted between wakefulness and sleep. He could feel the fever slowly fade as the sun slipped past the horizon and left the room dark. They slept in peace.

It was late morning before Victor ever stirred. Yuuri pressed his palm flat against Victor’s temple, and it was normal, rather than feverish. He let out a relieved breath. The color was starting to return to Victor’s cheeks at last, and morning looked lovely on his skin.

Victor smiled slowly as he awoke. His eyes opened, blinking slowly in the morning light, so soft and warm and open. “Yuuri,” he murmured. His voice was rough and Yuuri had never heard anything so beautiful in his life.

Yuuri took a slow breath, then pointed to himself. Very deliberately, he said "Omega Lord," in Victor's tongue. Surprise splashed his face, then raw delight.

Victor lit up. "Yuuri!" He tried to sit up, pushing Yuuri's worried hands away. He was still so pale and drawn, but he looked monumentally better than before.

Yuuri smiled softly. “Victor.”

Victor frantically nosed his way to Yuuri’s neck, swapping their scents until the two mixed and mingled perfectly together. Yuuri wanted this forever, so badly it made his chest hurt. But Yuuri would go home soon, their countries so inhospitable to one another that coexistence was impossible. It wasn’t safe to stay.

Victor stroked his hair, just holding him. Without words, Victor’s actions were all Yuuri had to go off of. He’d worked himself sick trying to bring about this peace he dreamed of. He worked himself sick trying to protect Yuuri.

Yuuri needed to change if he wanted to be the one to protect Victor. If he wanted to give Victor his dream, and at the same time bring his family home, Yuuri needed to do _so much more_.

Yuuri didn’t need words to know Victor would sooner die than see himself fail this world. He could see it in the way Victor threw himself into his work, the way Victor dropped into bed so early in the evenings and rose so early to get a fresh start to the day.

Alphas and Omegas committed crimes out of desperation. Lives were on the line, and the hunger for one another drove them to do terrible things. But if their worlds could coexist, the struggles would end. Idealistic, foolish, and delightful, Yuuri could see it: a world where Omegas and Alphas could give each other what they needed without fear of repercussions. The world that Victor dreamed of.

Victor’s scent pulled him in, so fiercely that Yuuri couldn’t ignore it if he wanted to. It burned inside his soul and set him aflame. Everything about him felt so right.

Yuuri crawled out of bed, leaving the warmth of Victor’s side just long enough to grab the children’s book. He crawled back in, pointing out the picture.

“I want this,” Yuuri whispered. The Omega Lord and the Alpha Lord, together, uniting their worlds. Ending the hunts. Finding the missing Alphas and Omegas alike. He struggled to find the words in Alphaderan. “ _Lasting Peace._ That’s what I want, Victor, I want to make this world right. I want to help you.”

“Lasting peace,” Victor echoed, beaming so wide, his eyes sparkling with radiant joy. He was as bright as the stars, bright as the sun itself, and Yuuri couldn’t look away.

He wanted to do this. He took Victor’s hand and placed a kiss on the back of his palm, then another on the inside of Victor’s wrist. Victor’s eyes went wide with shock. “Yuuri?”

“Victor,” Yuuri whispered. He opened his mouth and gently grazed his teeth over Victor’s scent gland. A promise, so intimate it made Yuuri flush brilliant red. Victor’s cheekbones were saturated, red creeping all the way up to the tips of his ears. _Bond me?_

Yuuri pointed to the book again, to their clasped hands. Victor smiled. His eyes were sparkling. Victor pressed a kiss to Yuuri’s own wrist, very deliberately looking him in the eye. Yuuri’s heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t stop beaming. _Like an accepted proposal._

* * *

They dozed together for several hours when the door burst open. A frantic-looking young alpha stood in the doorway, stammering out a rapid-fire string of comments. Victor groused something from the bed.

Yuuri sat up, tousling his hair between his fingers. The alpha stopped mid-diatribe and stammered something that sounded like an apology. Yuuri cocked his head.

Victor sat up slowly, rubbing the rheum from his eyes. He pulled a shirt off the floor and laced up the chest while Yuuri dressed at his side. They weren’t nude, but definitely weren’t dressed for company. Victor beckoned and sleepily led Yuuri behind him to the parlor area. The pieces of paper were scattered around a map. Victor picked up the one for the Regent.

Yuuri gaped. He gestured to the cluster of paper slips marked up with omega symbols and Victor frowned, offering a shrug and a shake of his head. He wasn’t sure where the omegas were, but the Regent had some business with the two of them that apparently couldn’t wait.

Yuuri’s blood ran cold. Alexei.

He reluctantly followed as Victor led him past long, tapestry-laden corridors to the main hall.

Alexei stood off to the side, looking pale. He locked eyes with Victor and took an automatic step back. The Regent began to speak, and Yuuri listened to the inflections in her voice. He studied the way her eyes flicked to Yuuri, narrowed, then came back to Victor. The change on Victor’s face was instantaneous.

The soft, sleepy smile fell away, becoming terrible and cold. Yuuri looked alarmed, but Alexei looked every bit as frightened as Yuuri did. Victor reached for Yuuri’s hand, and inserted himself between Alexei and Yuuri, growling low. The Regent made a comment that had Victor straightening up immediately with a false smile.

He didn’t relax a muscle.

So the Regent knew Alexei had tried to foist himself on Yuuri, and now, so did Victor. They spoke at length. Yuuri soon tuned them out. He needed to learn more of their language. This was excruciating.

The doors opened, and a beta stepped through. Yuuri looked up, shocked to see Leo from the train ride, the muted scent unmistakable. Yuuri could barely contain his nervous excitement. If one of the betas was here, there must be news of the omegas!

Leo spoke rapidly with the Regent. Her face was impossible to read, but the relief on Victor’s was plain as day to Yuuri. Victor grabbed Leo by the arm and pulled him closer.

Yuuri could hear the inflection change as Victor began to speak Bedarin. Leo nodded and turned to Yuuri. His eyes crinkled in visible delight. “We found them, Yuuri, we did it. They’ll be on a train bound for Bedarine within a few hours.”

“Bedarine?” Yuuri said, glancing at the Regent. “I thought the Regent planned to have them brought here.” Privately, though, he was quite pleased. Leo mentioned this to Victor, who grinned.

Leo translated, saying, “Victor did it. We got a hawk message with the change of plans. Victor talked to the Alphaderan diplomatic advisor in Bedarine, Christophe, I think? They worked out a deal between the betas and the Regent. The omegas, we haven’t spoken with yet, but negotiations can take place now. Convincing them won’t be easy but-”

“I’ll talk to them,” Yuuri said. “They’ll listen.”

Yuuri watched Victor and Leo speak for a while. Victor was asking after what happened, and though Yuuri was burning to know, he waited for Leo to turn and regale the story again in Omehan.

He told a sweeping tale of searching the treacherous crevasse, finding several omegas starving and near frozen to death, some of them inches from succumbing.

Many Alphas were rounded up, and others were arrested. And, Yuuri found out, they had an inside man who nearly ruined the rescue effort.

“Alexei?” Yuuri asked, alarmed.

Victor spoke briefly with Leo, who conveyed his words with a nod. “The doctor found poison in Victor’s body. Alexei had attempted to kill him to get the Alpha Lord out of the way. He also spent months relaying information ahead of time. Victor told me he likely would have died without you.”

Yuuri felt warmth blossom in his chest. Victor smiled fondly at Yuuri, pressing a kiss to Yuuri’s knuckles, murmuring again.

Leo let out a soft, breathy ‘aww’. “He said, you made him remember why he wanted to end the war so badly. You made him dream of a life where he could finally be happy.”

Yuuri’s eyes felt hot. “Victor… I’ve never felt anything like this before. I don’t know what to call it. But I want to help you. I would do whatever it takes, if t meant I could stay by your side. I want to call it love, if you’ll let me. I want to help you bring peace.”

Victor’s eyes glistened as Leo finished speaking, wet with tears that fell over Victor’s smile. “I couldn’t do it without you.” Leo sniffled as he translated. “Phichit’s going to cry when he hears.”

Yuuri laughed softly, wiping away his own happy tears.  “Can I see them? Everyone you saved?”

Leo spoke with Victor for a moment, translating Yuuri’s request. Victor’s voice was a solemn promise. “Victor said we can leave leave tomorrow.”

“But the Regent and your work-” Yuuri started. “Can we really leave so soon?”

Victor smiled as Leo told him Yuuri’s question. He looked painfully smug as Leo passed on Victor’s answer. “As if anyone could stop us.”

* * *

The air was rich with birdsong as Yuuri stepped off the train. He laced his fingers with Victor’s. Yuuri was suffocating under the excitement.

They both wore collars within Bedarine’s borders, and though it attracted a few stares from passing betas, Yuuri found he didn’t care. His family, his friends, and everyone he’d ever known since he was small— they were safe within the city. Political prisoners for now, but this was not something Yuuri intended to tolerate for long.

Victor led him to a large, beautifully constructed stone building. They were shown inside by a pair of beta guards, and then taken through the halls to the housing facilities where the omegas were staying.

It was plain, but adequate. Fresh picked flowers were gathered in a cup on a table. A pair of omegas were chatting there, right in the entry. Their conversation died the second they saw Victor, muzzled and collared and standing at Yuuri’s side.

“Yuko,” Yuuri breathed.

The female omega launched to her feet. “Yuuri! You’re okay! We were so worried about you-“

“I found help,” Yuuri breathed. “I was so scared- your family, have you talked with them yet?”

“The betas let us send hawks home. Takeshi and the triplets are okay. They’re glad we’re all safe. Your family is here too, they’re all okay. But when do we get to go home? Do you know?”

“I’m not sure-”

“ _Ahem_ ,” the other omega said, catching Yuuri’s attention. He vaguely recognized her. He didn’t remember her name, at least, though her face was familiar enough. “You _reek_ of alpha, and you bring one in here. What is the meaning of this?”

“Oh!” Yuuri said, taking a step back toward Victor. Victor offered a winning smile. “This is Victor. There’s no way I could have ever gotten help without him.”

The omega turned on her heel and walked off. Yuko watched her go with an icy glare. It wiped away quickly enough. “Hi Victor, I’m Yuko,” she said with a smile.

Victor beamed. “Yuko,” he said proudly, trying out the name. He looked at Yuuri, a little puppyish suddenly. “Yuko… aah….” he made a gesture with his hands, pointing at Yuko and Yuuri, then bringing the two opposite forefingers together.

Yuuri squinted for a moment. He blushed bright red, shaking his head and flailing his arms. “No no no, we aren’t together,” he said.

Yuko laughed. She made the same gesture with her hands, pointing elsewhere, saying “Takeshi,” and at herself, and then popped up three other fingers. “He doesn’t speak our language, does he?” she said with a laugh.

Victor squinted at the three fingers. Yuuri held his hands waist height, and pointed at Yuko’s belly until Victor finally understood. Victor reached for Yuuri’s hand and held it. Yuuri laced their fingers together, and Victor smiled.

It was interesting to see Victor so out of his element for once. The strong smile became something softer, and his brows furrowed often as he tried to parse meaning from phrases he didn’t know.

“She’s right, though, you smell like him,” Yuko said. “Are you…?”

Yuuri blushed. He glanced at Victor, who beamed. “I like him… a lot, actually. He did more than just save me and the others. He’s… so nice. And he cares so much. I’ve never met anyone like him before. He wants to end the conflict between Alphas and Omegas, and… I think he can do it. We can do it.”

Yuko smiled. “He seems really nice. And if you’re happy, I’m happy too. Come on, let’s find your family, and you can tell us all about what happened.” She beckoned them on, and Victor and Yuuri eagerly followed deeper into the facility.

Victor squeezed Yuuri’s hand. Omegas openly stared at Victor as he passed, guardedly cautious and watching from the fringes of the rooms. They were fearful, and for good reason. Some of them were bandaged and wore blankets, shaking in fear.

The trauma was not so easy to forget.

Yuko led them to the back, where a number of omegas were pouring tea and talking. Yuuri broke into a smile. “Hey mom. I’m glad you’re okay.”

His mom almost dropped the teapot she was holding. She set it down hastily and bounded forward, bouncing on her heels, looking Yuuri over attentively with tears in her eyes. “Oh Yuuri, Yuuri, you’re safe! We were all so worried. Love, he’s safe!”

Toshiya came around the corner, breaking into a run. Yuuri’s eyes were hot and wet. “Hi dad, it’s good to see you again. You guys didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“They didn’t realize we were bonded when they took us,” Toshiya said. “They were going to leave us to the snow and ice when we arrived, but a few Betas and Alphas arrived just in time.”

“I’m glad,” Yuuri said warmly. He wiped his eyes. Safe, all of them safe, and Yuuri would make sure they were home soon.

“So who is this?” his mother asked.

Yuuri smiled softly. “This is Victor. He helped me to rescue everyone. Victor, Hiroko, Toshiya, Mari,” Yuuri said, going around and pointing them out one by one.

Victor blinked twice, and then stepped forward, eagerly shaking hands and smiling. Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at the puppyish enthusiasm. His mother didn’t need a common language to launch into a warm welcome for Victor.

Mari stepped up beside Yuuri, watching the antics with a straight face. “He smells like you,” she said. “And you smell like him. I’ll accept him but… You know what you’re doing, right?”

Yuuri watched as the omegas in the room timidly stepped forward, poking the muzzle on Victor’s face, introducing themselves, and rechecking their own collars. There was fear, Yuuri could smell it heavily on the air, but there was a hint of acceptance too.

“I do,” he said softly. “Victor… there’s no one else like him. He’s someone that I can’t let go. I trust him. And… I think I love him.”

“Then I’ll support you,” Mari said with a shrug. “He smells odd though. Not just because of your scent. He smells different than other Alphas. You smell different, too.”

Yuuri smiled. “I’ll tell you later… Also…” He trailed off, tapping his fingers together. Fidgeting. Putting it off. “I’m going to bond with him.”

Mari’s shock was visible. “You _what?”_

“I asked him. He almost cried from joy. I think… it’s something we both want. I can see a future with him that I never could have imagined before. I can see a future that makes life better for everyone. And… Victor… he makes me believe we can do it.”

Mari smiled. “If it was anyone else, I’d call them crazy. Good luck, little bro.”

“Thanks Mari. I’m glad you’re safe. You, everyone. The world is desperate right now, but… I think… it can get better. And Victor can do it. I want to help. I want to see the world he dreams of. I want to see Omegas and Alphas at peace, and no having to worry about war. ”

Mari ruffled Yuuri’s hair. “I want to see it, too. Don’t forget about us, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” Yuuri said warmly. Victor rejoined him, and they linked hands once more. He would have to bring a translator in here at some point so that Victor could properly talk to everyone.

_Or just learn Alphaderan and do it yourself._ Yuuri smiled. That was definitely an option too. He turned his smile up at Victor, and his heart skipped a beat when Victor smiled back.

He spent several highly enjoyable hours catching up with his family and friends, regaling them with some of his story, how he escaped, ran, and Victor plucked him from the wastes and brought him right into the heart of Alphadero. He told of the strange foods he ate and the strange architecture of the castle and the strange scents of the hundreds of Alphas around him.

And all the while, Victor’s hand in his steadied him, gave him strength.

They said their goodbyes when the hour grew late. Victor pulled him along. There were few hotels that allowed Omegas and Alphas alike, but Victor showed Yuuri to one where heats and ruts were often shared. He pressed a kiss to the scent gland in Yuuri’s wrist, flashing Yuuri a look. ‘ _You’re sure?’_ it seemed to say.

Yuuri squeezed Victor’s hands and nodded.

The room was already booked. The Beta inside gave them the key to a room on the third floor, and they made their way there. Yuuri was shivering. Goosebumps raced up his skin as Victor unlocked the door.

Yuuri closed it behind them. He stripped slowly, watching with relish as Victor did the same. Each piece of clothing fell away, revealing another hint of Victor’s pale skin, the lean muscle and strong lines of his body.  Victor inclined his head toward the bath.

It wasn’t as nice as the one back in Alphadero or the hot springs back home, but it was warm and left Yuuri feeling clean and relaxed. They washed each other with lazy strokes of soap and washcloths, lathering up bubbles and rinsing them away. The touches were soft and attentive.

Yuuri purred as he curled against Victor’s chest. Every muscle felt more relaxed than he had in weeks. He was nervous about meeting with Omehan leaders, scared to face them, but a part of him was thrilled at the thought of change. Of Victor’s dream finally being realized.

Victor smiled at him, a sleepy, soft thing that made Yuuri melt. “Peace,” Victor said.

Yuuri echoed the word, “Peace,” with a kiss to Victor’s collared throat, another to the base of the muzzle near the skin.

He reached out, and slowly unfastened the muzzle. It fell away with the soft rattle of metal, exposing the slightly irritated skin beneath. Yuuri pressed a shy kiss to the reddened skin.

Victor trailed his fingers over the fastening on his collar, and it too fell away, exposing the long, sensual line of his neck. Yuuri tipped his head back, baring his own. His breath caught as Victor released Yuuri’s collar.

He felt more exposed than ever before, naked in every sense of the word. But Victor was staring longingly at the gland on Yuuri neck, finally exposed to the air and visible, and Yuuri couldn’t help but feel the same.

On Victor’s throat, near the base at the back, right where the collar sat, there was a slightly reddened, raised bump— Victor’s scent gland. It shimmered slightly, as though dewing with sweat, but the sweet aroma of Victor’s scent grew more intense on the air. Yuuri let out an unconscious sound of desire.

Victor smiled. Even without words, he could make Yuuri melt. Without saying anything at all, he spoke volumes. The way he looked at Yuuri, the way he touched, the way he seemed to let the emotion flood his whole body when they were alone. It was beautiful, and Yuuri couldn’t imagine any phrase in any language that would ever convey the way he felt right now. They left their bath behind, dried each other with reverent touches, and curled naked around each other in bed. It was quiet, the only sound the exchange of chaste kisses, as they enjoyed the leisurely slowness of the moment.

They had all night together. The train left midday tomorrow, headed south to the capital city of Omeha, but for now, it was just them, just the touches and the tastes and the kisses they shared. Yuuri murmured his pleasure into Victor’s mouth, tasted the honey-sweetness of Victor’s lips and tongue as they drew out the moment with whispers and purrs.

Yuuri looked up at Victor with wide eyes. Victor’s gaze was sparkling in the low light. Yuuri had never seen anything so beautiful in the world. He kissed Victor’s lips, and traveled down, joining their bodies together with a light shift of his body.

With Victor fully inside him, he craned his neck. Victor’s breath skimmed over his skin. Yuuri ran his tongue lightly over the taut skin above the scent gland, savoring the rich taste of alpha. “Mmmm,” Yuuri hummed.

Victor smiled at him. Slanted beams of sunset’s orange glow slipped through the curtains. They set Victor’s body ablaze and made his eyes glitter so bright and blue it almost hurt to look at. Yuuri held his breath as Victor kissed down Yuuri’s throat. Goosebumps trailed in the wake of those kisses, until Yuuri was spellbound by the touch.

He let out a short, pleased sound. “Victor…”

“Yuuri,” Victor murmured. “Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri,” he repeated, like the name was a song, like it was all he could say. It was all they needed.

Yuuri kissed firmly against the spot where he would lay his bond mark down. His intentions were clear, but did Victor understand just what this meant? Did Victor want the same? The sudden anxieties whirled through Yuuri’s mind.

Victor’s teeth sank into Yuuri’s throat. All his thoughts went quiet.

Yuuri bit down instinctively. Suddenly, the world seemed to refract on itself, twist and spin dizzyingly fast. It rushed, whirled, a tether to reality snapped until there was only Victor, only his mate clinging to him, holding him to the surface of the world.

Yuuri pulled away, tasting copper on his tongue. He barely noticed the slightly stinging pain on his neck, the eternal bruise that would stain his skin. He was dizzy.

“Victor?” Yuuri said. He could almost feel the radiant joy falling off Victor, the promise of eternity in his smile.

“Yuuri,” Victor murmured, clinging tight. Yuuri smiled, and he rocked against Victor, feeling everything a thousand times more intense than ever before. And in Victor’s kiss, Yuuri tasted the promise of a lasting peace that was certain to come.

  



End file.
